Advertising is usually the most important element in any brand marketing plan, but many companies are finding that other approaches are also effective. Some have pursued these approaches out of necessity, being unable to support national advertising campaigns, while others are just more innovative than most in developing their marketing repertoires.

• Museums and Factory Tours. Examples include the World of Coca-Cola Museum in Atlanta and Las Vegas; CNN Factory Tour in Atlanta, Kellogg’s Cereal City USA in Battle Creek, MI; the American Girl Place in Chicago, the Crayola Factory tour and store in Easton, PA; the Hallmark Visitors’ Center in Kansas City, MO; the Ben & Jerry’s factory tour in Waterbury Center, VT; Hershey's Chocolate World in Hershey, PA; The Vermont Teddy Bear factory tour and store in Shelburne, VT, Dewar’s World of Whisky in Aberfeldy, Scotland; MacWorld Expo (85,000 make this pilgrimage!) and the annual Saturn owners homecoming in Spring Hill, TN.

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Ok, these may work for mega companies like Disney, but what about smaller companies and brands with smaller marketing budgets? Do you have examples of options for the little guy who HAS to rely on non-traditional marketing to stay in business??

A non traditional marketing strategy was utilized by BMW. BMW decided to shake things up when they introduced their Z3 in the movie GoldenEye. The plan was to create a feeling of freedom, and what a better way than to show a 90 second clip of James Bond escaping an airplane chase driving the Z3.

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